Outbreaks occurred in Vietnam 1965 1969, especially in refugee centres.
Refugee centre in sand dunes of Tuy Hoa.
Outside clinic Tuy Hoa
Boys with catch. Tuy Hoa 1967
Vietnam. 1965 68
1. Bipolar staining Gm neg coccobacillus. 2. Xenopsylla cheopis flea. 3. Black rat (Rattus rattus)
Current Opinion in Microbiology Volume 15, Issue 3, June 2012, Pages 239 246 Iman Chouikha, B Joseph Hinnebusch
Plague in Vietnam 1898 Nha Trang 1906 Saigon, around 1000 / year down to 25 under strict French rules. Increased in WW2. 1962 to 1973, perhaps 500 to 10,000 cases. Several hundred to 1997 None since 2000
What type? Mostly bubonic. Few pneumonic. Also, asymptomatic pharyngeal carriers. Pharyngitis with cervical nodes. Meningitis.
Why did it take off? 1. Rural disruption as with earthquakes in India and Algeria? 7.5 million tonnes of bombs: 100 times impact of A bombs in Japan. 2. Rural exfoliation of six million acres. Cases were most in defoliated areas. 3. Human disruption of 10% of population? 4. Was it thus in rural rats coming to town?
Not rural, urban rats from central supply, skinned on the spot. Not found in rural rats, only R rattus. And, the flea Xenopsylla cheopis was almost specific to urban rats. Only one species was shared. Central supplies of grain. Local refuse. Eating and thus skinning as in camel skinners and other practices.
Why did it not spread? Hot: fleas are blocked over 30C Dry: they and their eggs desiccate in dry weather. Antibiotics: reduced mortality to 1 5%
How did it get there?
Yunnan
Emile Rocher Administrator with French China Customs, gun running for the authorities in the Moslem civil war with the Manchu dynasty. First sign...sickness and mortality in rats, and other animals. Rapid onset, high fever, thirst, prostration, buboes, mortality 4 6/100 but in other districts whole families disappeared one after another. Recurring over 1871, 72, 73. Originated in? Burma, in? Mecca, but reports of sickness in rats and humans in preceding 100 years. Earlier version translated by Patrick Manson, medical advisor to Colonial Office...Medical Reports 1978.
War, famine and pestilence. Capture of Dali.
First report in Southern China. Dr Lowry, Pakhoi An Epitome of the Reports of the Medical Officers to the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs... https://archive.org/details/anepitomereport01gordgoog Called the Yunnan sickness. Epidemic in 1882 but recurred since 1867 when the Yunnan war involved troops from Pakhoi. Rats dying...slightly congested lungs, congested abdominal organs, but no bacteria on microscopy! Unable to get blood from victims or do postmortem examinations.
First report in Canton. Dr Mary West Niles (1884 1933) Presbyterian obstetrician at Canton Hospital Founder of school for blind children. http://findit.library.yale.edu/bookreader/bookreaderdemo/index.html?oid=11178999#page/1/m January 16, 1894...General Wong s daughter in law...fever, petechiae, inguinal boil, was dressed in shroud, but recovered. Many cases in following months, with people leaving Canton for home villages. Outbreaks in villages. 1000 coffins a month. Over 80 100,000 deaths
Hong Kong. May 94 Governor William Robinson requested help. Japanese government responded with equipped team lead by famed microbiologist Shibasaburo Kitasato, trained in Berlin, found tetanus bacillus and developed antitoxin. Arriving June 12 Found organisms in blood on June 14. Success telegraphed to Lancet by James Lowson, Superintendent of the Government Civil Hospital, on June 15. Report appeared in Lancet on June 23. Pasteur Institute sends Alexandre Yersin. Arriving June 15. Little help. Bribes guards for access to corpses. On June 20, finds bacilli in buboes, unlike Kitasato s, reproducing disease in rats. On June 23, finds same bacilli in dead rats. Considers rats as vectors. Lancet reports sceptically on August 4.Ultimately vindicated.
Shibasaburo Kitasato https://au.pinterest.com/pin/51298883232301901
Alexandre Yersin Yersin Photograph Collection Institut Pasteur Musée Pasteur. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/alexandre_yersin
Superintendents House and Government Civil Hospital in Hong Kong ca 1893. Colonial Office Photographic Collection.
(A) Aerial photograph showing the location of the grave of individual A120 in the Aschheim Bajuwarenring cemetery, Bavaria, Germany. (B) Shared grave of A120 and two other individuals. (C) Skeleton of A120. (D) Sampled tooth from A120. (E) Goods23 obtained from the grave of A120 that were used to estimate the age of this burial to 525 550 AD. Parts (A) and (B) reproduced with permission of Hans Peter Volpert. Part (E) reproduced with permission of Doris Gutsmiedl Schümann.
(A) Mapped to the chromosome of the reference strain CO92. (B) Mapped to the three plasmids (ppcp1, pcd1, and pmt1) of the reference strain CO92. The chromosome and plasmid plots are not shown to same scale. Single nucleotide polymorphism colours: black=non synonymous, grey=synonymous, white=non coding region. Coverage axes (outer ring) for both chromosome and plasmids at 1 (ten times), 1 47 (30 times), and 2 (100 times) GC content: axis at 0 5. Colour gradation from greater than 0 55 (red) to less than 0 3 (black). Coverage and GC content calculated in: 1000 bp windows from chromosome, 100 bp windows for plasmids. Figures produced using Circos.27
Original photograph of the triple inhumation regarding the three male soldiers (Brandenburg, Germany), dated to the Thirty Years War (1618 1648). PLoS One. 2016; 11(1): e0145194. Published online 2016 Jan 13. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145194
Fragile biofilm produced by PhoP Y. pestis in the flea gut. Roberto Rebeil et al. J. Bacteriol. 2013;195:1920-1930